A difficult question

Ric · #1 17-07-2013, 07:27 AM

On the TripleJ breakfast show this morning there the usual competition where the listeners ring in to win something after answering a simple question.

This mornings question was "What hot object does the Earth revolve around?"

This mornings answer was "The Universe"

Oh well, the person involved didn't win the prize, funny about that.

Cheers

Baddad (Marty) · #2 17-07-2013, 07:49 AM

I bet that person has a drivers license too. That is scary.

Cheers

Starless (Brian) · #3 17-07-2013, 08:02 AM

You would expect the right answer from a five year old.

AndrewJ · #4 17-07-2013, 08:10 AM

Quote:

This mornings answer was "The Universe"

Hmmm, i always thought it was "The Core"

( but hollywood wrecked that answer by getting it spinning again

)

Andrew

Kunama · #5 17-07-2013, 08:26 AM

I thought the Earth was the centre of the universe, I know that recently there have been rumours that we orbit the medium sized star called Sol, but I am not buying into that premise.

Next they will tell us that the Earth is actually spherical !!!! Don't encourage these heretics!

el_draco (Rom) · #6 17-07-2013, 08:34 AM

Nah, rotates around my adolescent daughters ego...

Barrykgerdes · #7 17-07-2013, 08:39 AM

If you think this unusual read "young brains googled" P15 this mornings telegraph!

Barry

PS I occasionally watch some of those quiz programs to win $1000000. I have no trouble with the general knowledge and science that most miss on but I get stumped completely on the pop music questions that most contestants have no trouble with.

AndrewJ · #8 17-07-2013, 08:56 AM

Its even sadder than this.
Just listening to 774 in Melb this morning when someone did a straw poll on the street.
( Re a proposition that reliance on Google etc was dumbing down general knowledge in society)

Q. How long does it take for the Earth to orbit the sun???

1 out of 5 got it ( and she was surprised when told her "guess" was right )

Andrew

UniPol · #9 17-07-2013, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baddad

I bet that person has a drivers license too. That is scary.

Cheers

Better change "license" to "licence" Marty otherwise someone might start a thread about incorrect spelling

cfranks (Charles) · #10 17-07-2013, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UniPol

Better change "license" to "licence" Marty otherwise someone might start a thread about incorrect spelling

They are both valid spellings.

Barrykgerdes · #11 17-07-2013, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cfranks

They are both valid spellings.

Yes sad isn't it.

When I went to school spelling was very important and the only spelling we would have been allowed was licence. An error of one word in a test of 50 would lose 2 marks out of ten. In other words correctly spelling 90% would result in no marks.

Now with spell checkers only speaking American we have lost our old ways.

Barry

PS I receive emails from an former highschool teacher and she rarely gets more than 90% of her spelling correct. Even with the spell checker!

UniPol · #12 17-07-2013, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cfranks

They are both valid spellings.

"Licence" here in Australia, have a look at your RTA driver's licence; "License" if you live in the US.

BPO · #13 17-07-2013, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

I have no trouble with the general knowledge and science that most miss on but I get stumped completely on the pop music questions that most contestants have no trouble with.

Yep, this is a worry. Almost everyone around you can correctly answer questions about so-called celebrities and the royal family, or who is doing what to whom on Coronation Street. They know which weatherman is getting married and which actor is getting divorced. They know which sports "star" is going into rehab, is already in rehab, or has just come out of rehab, and can name the drugs or other addictions those people had or have.

Yet most of them couldn't point out the moon in the sky if you asked them to.

multiweb (Marc) · #14 17-07-2013, 09:17 AM

C'mon!... when will you astro-geeks realise you are minority.

99% of the populace never look up and hear astrology instead of astronomy. How could they possibly know what revolves around us or what we revolce around. Doesn't make them any stupider than you lot.

BPO · #15 17-07-2013, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

C'mon!... when will you astro-geeks realise you are minority.

99% of the populace never look up and hear astrology instead of astronomy. How could they possibly know what revolves around us or what we revolce around. Doesn't make them any stupider than you lot.

The trouble is the pop culture trivia stuff is all they know.

multiweb (Marc) · #16 17-07-2013, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BPO

The trouble is the pop culture trivia stuff is all they know.

Too broad still... they revolve around their iPhone and facebook.

Barrykgerdes · #17 17-07-2013, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

C'mon!... when will you astro-geeks realise you are minority.

99% of the populace never look up and hear astrology instead of astronomy. How could they possibly know what revolves around us or what we revolce around. Doesn't make them any stupider than you lot.

Not quite right. 99% of the population know a lot about the stars. Particularly the ones who are on drugs or otherwise misbehaving!

Barry

AstralTraveller (David) · #18 17-07-2013, 09:47 AM

Triple J and the Tele (BTW it's a worry that anyone knows what is in this rag) are obviously following up this survey http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-1...dults/4824232/.

Average science literacy is low and falling. However, counter-intuitively, 18-24 year olds still score above the average, suggesting that there are more ignorant older people. However you read it though, it's a worry that 40% of people don't know how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun or that 30% don't know whether humans and dinosaurs co-existed (I blame Fred and Barney for that!).

PCH (Paul) · #19 17-07-2013, 10:10 AM

I'm sure you all remember the uncertainty surrounding the year 2000.

One of the news programs did a survey of people asking the question ... "2000 years since what?"

Not many people knew the answer.

Still, why should we worry, these are only gonna be the guys driving the country in a very few years time

blink138 (Pat) · #20 17-07-2013, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PCH

I'm sure you all remember the uncertainty surrounding the year 2000.

One of the news programs did a survey of people asking the question ... "2000 years since what?"

Not many people knew the answer.

Still, why should we worry, these are only gonna be the guys driving the country in a very few years time

2000 years since we started counting the years would be my response!
pat